Hay-tedder fork-arm.



No. 792,622. PATENTED JUNE 20, 1905.

W. W. SHAW. HAY TEDDER FORK ARM. APPLIOATION rum) MAB. 7, 1904. RENEWED FEB. 13.1905.

UNTTED STATES WILLIAM WV. SHAW OF HOOSIOK FALLS, N EWV YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- Patented June 20, 1905.

PATENT O ETQE.

HALF TO WATSON M. HOLMES, OF HOOSIOK FALLS, NEW YORK.

HAY-TEDDER FORK-ARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 792,622, dated June 20, 1905.

Application filed March '7, 1904. Renewed February 13, 1905. Serial No. 245,401.

To rtZZ 1071/0712 it may concern:

Be it known that 1, \VILLIAM XV. SHAW, of the village of Hoosick Falls, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Hay-Tedder Fork-Arms; and I hereby declare that the subjoined description, in connection with the accompanying sheet of drawings, constitutes a specification thereof and of the preferred method of constructing and using the same.

The object of my invention is to provide hay-tedder fork-arms with improved facilities for repairs when it is desired to replace a broken fork with a new one, to increase the strength and durability of the arm, and to obviate the cutting or destruction of bolts or rivets in replacing broken forks.

The principal feature of the improvement lies in the use of an arm having one fixed and preferably integral tine-bearing with which a separable tine-bearing maybe used and means connected therewith for holding these two members in fixed relation to each other. Incidental to this construction my invention also I embraces such a design of the parts that the fork shall be operative if the separable hearing should be broken or removed.

The invention is fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 shows a side elevation of a forkarm with my improvement applied thereto. Fig. -2 shows, on an enlarged scale, in side elevation the particular parts in which my invention is embodied. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same parts. Fig. & is a top plan of the end of a fork-arm, showing an integral tine-bearing or check, as this part will be designated herein. Fig. 5 shows a longitudinal section of the separable tine-bearing or cheek-piece, taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a transverse section of the arm, taken on the plane of the fastening-bolt as seen at 6 6, Fig. 3. Fig. 7 shows a plan and an edge view of a specially-devised nut-lock used in holding the bolt by which the separable cheek is attached to the arm from turning. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section of the nut-lock as taken from the section 5 5 of Fig. 2 and shows one guard-lip upturned. Fig. 9 shows a modification of the parts shown in Fig. 6.

The style of arm to which this invention is applicable is shown at 1 in Fig. 1 and is a type in common use and is so mounted and operated as to produce the grasshopper kicking motion. Bearing 21 is journaled on a crankwrist, and bearing 22 is pivoted to one end of an arm or link, the other end of which swings on a fixed pivot, whereby a cycloidal motion of the fork is produced. This action is so well understood as not to require description or illustration here. Arm 1 is preferably an integral piece, the fork end of which is fashioned substantially in the shape shown in Fig. 4. One side of the end is chambered or rabbeted, as on the line a; m m, Fig. 4, to form a seat for the loose cheek 11*, Figs. 2 and 5. The side?) is solid and is screw-threaded to take in a bolt 20, as indicated at 17. The Walls of the socket are beveled, as seen in cross-section in Fig. 6. The loose check 11 is perforated, as at 12, for the bolt 20, and its edges are beveled to fit the socket in the arm. It is so fitted that when in place it will not bottom in the socket, but will bear by its edges, so that it may be drawn down tightly by the bolt. The thickness of the shank of the loose cheek 11*is enough less than the depth of its socket to leave space for the thickness of the lock-washer 1a. This washer is of substantially the form seen in Fig. 7. Its width is adjusted so that When in place its edges Will abut against the ribs 23, so that it cannot turn. It is provided with the stop-lips 15 15, which when the parts are assembled liein the plane of the washer; butafter the bolt-head has been fixed firmly one or both of them is or are bent up against the edge of the bolt-head or of the nut, if a nut is used. An alternative style of this bolt connectionis shown inFig. Here the loose cheek is threaded and the bolt is passed through the integral cheek-piece or of the arm and is screwed into the loose cheek, the lock-washer being placed on the integral side of the arm. There is no difference in principle between these two methods, and they are therefore regarded as equivalents each for the other; but it is cheaper and more convenient in manufacturing to tap the loose piece. If it becomes necessary to separate the checks for any purpose, the everted stoplip 15 is bent back, so as to permit the bolthead or nut, as the case may be, to turn over it easily, when such bolt may be screwed out of its position and the parts may be separated. Any well-known nut-lock may be employed in this relation. The broadening of the end of the arm across the top to secure the upper flange 23, Fig. 1, supplies means whereby a loose cheek-piece may under certain conditions be left off and still the mechanism will be operative. If a fork be inserted in the bearing 13 of the integral cheek (see Fig. 4:) and operative connection with the rod 3 be made, when the spring 4. contracts it will draw the loop 10 of the fork over till it rests upon the front upper transverse corner of the end of the arm, as at 18. hen so supported, both the draft of rod 3 and the resistance offered by the points of the tines striking any obstacle like a clump of cut grass, a root, or stone tend to force the loop 10 back against the end of the arm, and any tendency of the loop to rise out of that position will only tilt up the eye 9 of rod 3, which will depress its rear end and throw the nut 7 down against the arm, thus arresting any further tendency of the fork toward displacement or derangement.

To assemble the parts, one tine of the fork is threaded through the bearing of the solid arm. Then the eye of rod 3 is passed over the other tine and brought into position in loop 10. The loose check is then threaded by its eye or bearing over the latter tine and its shank seated in position in the socket of the arm. The nut-lock is then put in position, the bolt 20 entered in place and turned up until the shank of the check is drawn down firmly in position. As its under side does. not bottom on the bottom of the socket, it may be wedged in between the flanges 23 solidly, as it should be. The bolt is turned ahead until one of the facets of its head stands square across the stop-lip of the washer, when one of its lips is bent upwardly against this facet and hammered down tightly. \"V hen so liXed, the bolt-head cannot turn. If by use it should work loose or the cheek get out of position, it may be tightened by bending down the lip flat and giving the bolt a partial turn or more and bending up the lip again. The washer is so constructed that when one lip gives out it may be changed end for end and the other lip used.

An exchange of forks may be made by removing nut 7, withdrawing spring 4: from socket 2, lifting the rod from the socket, removing bolt 20, which will liberate the loose cheek-piece 11. This can then be slipped off one tine, and the other tine may be drawn out through the eye 9 of the rod 3 and the bearing 13 of the integral check. The new fork can then be substituted in the manner already described for assembling the parts.

I therefore claim as my invention the following:

.1. A hay-tedder fork-arm having one integral tin e-bearing cheek and one separable tinebearing cheek, and means for uniting the two, substantially as specified.

2. A hay-tedder fork-arm having one integral tine-bearing cheek and one separable tinebearing check, the former having a bevcledged socket and the latter a bevel-edged shank to lit the socket, and means connected therewith for forcing the shank into the socket and holding it there, substantially as specified.

3. The combination with the fork having a loop or yoke at its top, of an arm provided with an integral tine-bearing, a retracting rod and spring for actuating the same mounted on said arm, the rod articulating with the yoke or loop at the top of the fork, and a rear support behind that limb of the loop opposite the tine-bearing whereby one tine may be left unjournaled, the whole being adapted to operate substantially as specified.

at. The fork-arm having only one integral tine-bearing, and spring-socket, in combination with the described fork, connecting-rod, spring and adjusting-nut, arranged to operate substantially as specified.

5. The described fork-arm having one integral ti ne-bearing and a socket to hold a separable tine-bearing, in combination with a separable tine-bearing, a screw-bolt for uniting the two members and a nut-lock for holding the bolt, substantially as specified.

6. The combination with the described forkarm having a shank-socket and perforated for receiving a bolt, of a shank of less thickness than the depth of the socket also perforated for receiving a bolt, and a nut-locking washer adapted to fit between and bear against the walls of the socket and provided with a flexible lip for bending up against the bolt-head when in place, substantially as specified.

7. The described fork-arm having oneinte gral tine-bearing and having a socket to hold a separable tine-bearing and perforated with a bolt-hole, in combination with a se1 )arable tinedaearing having a screw-threaded hole to receive a bolt, and a screw-bolt for uniting the two members, substantially as specified.

In witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

\VILLIAM \V. SHAlV.

\Vitnesses:

FRANKLIN Soo'r'r, EM 1m" Soo'rtr. 

